Man United and Tottenham dealt blow to hopes of January deal for Barcelona star

Man United are expected to sign a new goalkeeper in 2026, and Tottenham are also seeking reinforcements in between the sticks. As expected, this has led to both clubs identifying similar targets, and one of them is Barcelona stopper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen.

Up until this season, Ter Stegen had been Barcelona’s number one for the best part of a decade, but he is now third in the pecking order in Hansi Flick’s squad. Because of this, he has been strongly linked with a move away, especially as he needs to play football in order to be Germany’s starter at the World Cup next summer.

However, it now appears that a mid-season move to Man United or Tottenham could be out of the question, which will be frustrating for both clubs.

According to Pete O’Rourke (via Football Insider), neither Tottenham nor Man United are likely to sign Ter Stegen in January, despite the fact that he is out of favour at Barcelona.

“We know Ter Stegen’s a top player, he’s played at a high level for club and country. Obviously, there’s been a bit of unrest between him and Barcelona over the summer when they needed to put him on the long-term medical list to free up space for their wages to register their new signings like Joan Garcia and Marcus Rashford.

“It’s obviously seen that Garcia is the long-term number one now at Barcelona, so Ter Stegen’s opportunities are going to be limited, I think, with the Catalan giants. But, I think it’s a deal that will be very unlikely to happen in the January window.

“It’ll be interesting to see what happens in the summer if Ter Stegen continues to find himself out of favour at Barcelona. I’m sure Barcelona would prefer to probably sell him rather than potentially loan him, just to help with their financial situation and obviously get his wages off the wage list at the club.”